Leave Me Breathless
by xbloodlustangelx
Summary: Five years after they day they said I do, Hermione is starting to wonder... where has the love gone in her marriage, can Ron fix things before it's too late.  Lyrical Inspiration Challenge


**Harry Potter FanFic Challenges – Lyrical Inspiration Challenge**

**Pairing: Ron/Hermione**

**Lyric: Tell me that you love me, yeah; and tell me that I take your breath away.**

* * *

It was official… the romance was dead. She had suspected it wasn't as hot and heavy as it used to be for some time, ever since Ron had tried to "Dutch-oven" her a few weeks before but now it really was official. She'd woken up, before Ron of course and padded into the bathroom. She did her early morning routine, used the facilities, showered and was now standing at the sink brushing her teeth, when Ron stumbled in mumbling a good morning, and very unceremoniously scratching his behind through his boxer shorts, before he stumbled to the toilet, and proceeded to urinate right in front of her! And to make matters worse he didn't lift the toilet seat.

Married for five years… and the romance was dead. She quickly finished up brushing her teeth, and hurried out. Using a few charms to dry and style her hair before getting dressed for work, she headed down the stairs for a quick glass of orange juice. She always had breakfast at Hogwarts, but she made sure she cooked breakfast for Ron before she headed off. Today… she didn't think she could muster up the energy to cook. It was inevitable that all relationships would cool down, but it was only five years. She sighed, wishing she had someone she could talk to that had been married for a long time. Molly was great for that, but she wondered how her kindly mother-in-law would take to her worrying about the state of her and Ron's marriage.

She loved Ron, she always would, and she knew he loved her, but she wasn't really starting to feel like she was loved, that was for sure. She'd never leave Ron, but is this what she had to look forward to for the rest of her life?

A shuffling of feet coming down the stairs brought her back from her thoughts. Pulling on her robes and placing her half drunken cup of orange juice in the sink she hurried over to the floo. As she stepped in she heard a mumbled, "Oi where's breakfast?" before dashing off to work.

After nearly burning the kitchen down trying to cook himself breakfast Ron called in sick and apparated over to his mothers. She was standing at the kitchen counter peeling potatoes, while some pots were cleaning themselves in the sink. She peered out the open window at Victiore who was in the back yard pestering the garden gnome.

...

"Ello Mum." He said and watched her turned stunned but soon saw that radiant and warm smile light up her face. She wiped her hands on her apron before wrapping him up in a huge rib breaking hug.

"What are you doing here?" She asked excitedly as she kissed his cheek and gave him a healthy pat.

"Well I had something I wanted to talk to you about… and I'm starving." He said with a blush.

"Oh!" She exclaimed before hustling to get a hearty breakfast placed before him. He smiled at the pile of his mom's cooking before tearing into it with gusto. When he was nearly finished he frowned at the plate, knowing he could easily go for another, and sure enough, when he finally finished everything off, his mom picked the plate up and put another down before him. He'd been so intent on the food he hadn't noticed her cooking him more food. He gave her an awed look that she only laughed at. "I know that 'there's no more food for me to eat' look, I've been looking at it for the past twenty one years." She said with a warm smile and a pat on his shoulder, before she turned to look out the window. Ron began tearing into his second plate. "Victiore you put that rock down this instant young lady, you're not to throw things at the poor creature." She yelled through the open window and Ron looked up from his half eaten second helping to watch his mom with an unusual smile on his face.

"But ze gnome bit me grandmere." He heard his niece's soft, French accented voice filter in through the window and couldn't help but smile more. Victiore looked just like her mother and apparently growing up in France had made her start to sound like her too.

"Why were your fingers to close to his mouth?" His mother questioned.

" 'e put up ze white flag, when I went over to shake 'es 'and 'e bit me." She said in a haughty child voice.

"Well that serves you right for believing a garden gnome would surrender. Carry on but do not throw any rocks at him." His mother said, she watched for a moment. "Or any sticks!" She yelled and Ron could only picture that Victiore had ditched her stone for a stick at that moment. He chucked before tucking into his food once more. He liked seeing his mom like this. For a bit there she'd been rather lonely after the war, what with loosing a child and having all the rest move out, it was nice to see the old mom again, caring and delicately reprimanding children. Sadly it was only Victiore for now, but with the gang he had for siblings he was pretty sure there would be more on the way.

As he finished the plate his mom took it away and he rested back in the chair. He was nice and full, almost to the point of bursting but sadly he couldn't enjoy it, not when he thought of how the morning had started.

"Oh, I know what that scrunch of your brow means, what's wrong baby?" His mother said softly as she took the seat across from him so that she could see both him and out the window at Victiore.

"I dunno mum, something happened today, and it's probably nothing but it just bothered me." He said with a heavy sigh.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Do you think 'Mione would ever cheat on me?" He asked suddenly.

"What?" She said her eyes a bit wide with concern.

"I dunno, It's just she's been so distant this past week, and this morning she just up and left, every morning she makes me breakfast and we eat before she floo's off to Hogwarts. Today… she just left, no breakfast, not even a good bye."

"Ron, Hermione is simply mad about you, when she's not at work she's home with you, she doesn't have the time to run around?" His mom said softly with a tone that spoke reason.

"But that's just it, couldn't there be someone at work?" He questioned.

"Has she had to stay late?" His mom asked.

"No."

"Has she gone when she didn't need to?"

"No."

"Any last minute meetings?"

"No."

"Any owls come that she wouldn't let you see?"

"No."

"Then I think you're just worrying yourself over nothing. Missing one breakfast, isn't proof enough that she's cheating on you Ronald."

"I guess you're right… but … she just seems so, unhappy lately."

"Now Ronald, you are my darling son, but maybe… have you done something to upset her?" His mom asked carefully, and Ron wracked his brain. Maybe he had done something to anger Hermione and she was simply staying mad at him till he figured out what it was and apologized… this had happened before, but whenever Hermione was mad it was never over something he wasn't aware of. He knew very well what he'd done to get on her bad side, he just wasn't always sure he was in the wrong… till he had a few days to swallow his pride and really look over the situation, and realize he was in the wrong and follow up with an apology. But he couldn't remember anything like that, and Hermione didn't seem mad, she almost seemed depressed.

"No mum, I don't think I have, and when I've done something to upset her, she's usually really pissed, now she just seems kind of … sad." He said running a hand roughly through his bright red locks, and heaving a heavy sigh. "I just… I guess I'm just worried I'm not making her happy, and she starting to realize it."

"Well what are you doing to make her happy?" She asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well have you done anything to show her how special she is to you, and how much you love her."

"Well I'm married to her aren't I, I come home to her every night, kiss her every morning, tell her I love her every day." He said.

"But when was the last time you showed her you loved her?" She said reaching across to place a gentle hand on his arm. "Women are sensitive creatures Ronald, we need to be reminded often that you still find us as attractive and alluring as the day you met us, that for you nothing has changed. What may be the problem is that the honeymoon stage of your marriage is ending, and Hermione may be feeling a little unloved. Try reminding her that you indeed love her just as much as you did the first time you told her. If that doesn't pick up her spirits, well then we'll talk again." She offered and he nodded. She had a point. Their exchanges of 'I love you's' had been short and was as emotional as asking to pass the salt, and except for her birthday a few months back, where he'd bought her a necklace and some flowers, he hadn't really done anything special.

"Mom, I'm gonna need your help." He said a light smile curling his lips.

...

Men really were dense weren't they? Ronald had fire called her during her free period, and badgered her about this morning. She quickly made up an excuse that McGonagall had wanted her to come in early to go over some student progress reports. He'd then gone on to ask her if everything was alright, and she gave him a short 'Everything is fine'. Everything was not fine, she wanted to scream all the thoughts that were racing in her mind. She wanted to yell, tell me that you love me, tell me that I take your breath away… but nothing came out, because if she had to ask for it, she could never be sure it was real. So they'd ended the fire call, and she'd quickly gone to McGonagall and asked for the woman to cover for her if, Ronald called the woman to double check her excuse. Not that she thought he would, but she didn't need him worrying that she was fooling around behind his back, because she'd been too upset to stick around for one bloody morning.

Now her day was done, all the children would be rushing down for dinner soon, and she would floo home and settle in to their normal evening routine. She cook dinner, Ronald would come home just about the time it was finished. They'd eat, she'd clear the table and he'd spell them clean. They'd both prepare for bed and climb in. She'd correct essays, he'd watch T.V. Then they'd kiss, turn out the lights and go to sleep.

She stepped to the floo and dropped the powder, morosely calling out her destination. As soon as she stepped out of the floo she paused. The briefcase in her hand fell to the floor with a soft thunk as her eyes grew wide and took in the scene before her. The living room lights had been turned down, and candles were strewn around the room, their soft glow flickering off the walls. A path of crimson rose petals led from the floo to the stairs, and spelled out on the floor in petals was the words follow me. For the first time in a week she smiled. Her heart began to race as she picked up her briefcase and tore off her robes. She hung it on the coat rack as she ran up the stair, taking them two at a time. The petals then led to the bedroom and she burst in with a wide grin only to find it empty.

She was sure that he'd be in the bedroom waiting for her. Her smile faltered till she saw that the rose petals then led from the entrance to the bedroom to their master bathroom. She followed and her smile grew even wider at the sight. The light in the bathroom was off and more candles were strewn about and lit. The bath had been drawn and on the toilet was a large fluffy towel with a small silver tray containing a champagne flute, a small bottle of her favorite bubble bath and an envelope. She quickly tore the envelope open and unfolded the letter. It only had three words scrawled in Ron's hand writing, 'Relax and enjoy". She quickly undressed and added the bubble bath to the water, which since it was bought at a wizard store, bubbled up to perfection. She then took the chilled champagne flute and slipped into the warm water. As she was resting in the temperate water, it dawned on her just how much thought had been put into all of this so far. The water had been charmed to stay warm, the glass flute charmed to stay cool. She'd run out of the bubble bath weeks ago, so he'd had to go buy some more, she never wanted to both laugh with glee and cry from happiness more than she did now, except for of course when Ron had asked her to marry him, and they'd finally exchanged their vows.

After she'd gotten herself nice and clean and relaxed she wrapped herself in the fluffy towel and emerged back out to the bedroom, to her amazement the rose petals now showed a new path, to the bed, then out the door, and on the bed was a beautiful pale blue satin dress, one that she was sure she didn't own before today, along with a pair of sparkly heels. On top of the dress was another small envelope. She quickly tore it open and this letter only contained two words, "Wear Me." With a smile she quickly dried off and pulled the dress on, it was beautiful and felt great against her skin, it made her feel glamorous and beautiful, but was still casual enough she could wear it to any kind of even without feeling too dressed up. She then grabbed her wand and she spelled her hair into a pretty up-do. Then applied some make up, a nice soft pink lipstick with a smoky eye shadow.

When she was sure she looked her best she followed the path of petals back down the stairs. The petals led into the living room but forked around into the kitchen. As soon as she passed over the threshold of the living room into the kitchen the smells assaulted her nose. There was a sumptuous dinner sprawled on the table, where there was two tapered candles lit, and even a small bucket, with a bottle of champagne chilling, just like she'd seen in the expensive muggle restaurants. Only thing that was missing was Ron.

As if thinking of him had somehow made him appear, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and his strong chest press against her back.

"Welcome home." He whispered against her ear and she felt a tremor run down her spine, as his breath tickled her neck and his nose lightly nudged her ear.

"What is all this? Have I missed some kind of anniversary?" She questioned lightly and turned, Ron's arm still around her waist. When she turned she saw that he was dressed in a dark suit that fit his frame to perfection, and just like her dress was still casual enough to be worn out without looking silly.

"No, I just wanted to do something nice, it came to my attention that I might not have been making you realize just how special you are." He said softly lifting his other hand which held one crimson rose. He pressed the bud to her cheek, the soft petals caressing over her skin. Her eyes closed as she shivered. "You're so beautiful, you walk in a room and I have to remind myself to breathe." He said still running the rose gently down her cheek. Hermoine's cheeks flared red as she blushed.

"Well this dress is amazing." She said coyly.

"No, not just today… everyday 'Mione, everyday." He said softly his nose nudging hers. Suddenly tears spilled from her eyes, coursing down her cheeks. "Oh, please don't cry 'Mione, I just wanted to do something nice, I didn't want to make you unhappy." He said his one hand slipping from her waist to her face, his thumbs passing over her skin, catching her tears.

"But I am happy Ron, these… these are good tears, trust me." She said softly as Ron gave her a smile and leaned forward she expected to feel his lips press to hers, but again he surprised her by kissing away her tears, which caused a few more to spill.

"Are you sure?" He questioned and she giggled lightly.

"Yes Ron, I'm sure, I've never been more sure of anything in my life, except for of course my decision to marry you."

"I'm bloody lucky you were daft enough to marry me. I'd be nothing without you."

"Ron…" She began to scold him but he cut her off with a kiss that stole her ability to think, when he pulled away she was dizzy, and had forgotten exactly what she was going to say.

"What was that…" He said with a mischievous grin.

"I… I'm not sure." She said with a dazed smile.

"Thought so." He gave a husky laugh and kissed her again and when they parted she had to check to make sure her feet were still on the ground. "I love you 'Mione, I know I say it everyday, but I never want you to forget, you're my reason for living, 'Mione, you're my heart." He whispered and she could see the sincerity in his eyes and could feel in her hear that he meant them, how on earth could she have ever thought that the romance was gone. She began rethinking the last week in her head and saw just how wrong she was. Just because Ron had started to let his grosser side show through didn't mean he loved her any less, if anything he loved her even more, he trusted her to see that side and still feel exactly the same, and she knew that if he happened to see her in a moment that wasn't her greatest, he'd still love her all the same. He was right when he called her daft, not for marrying him, but for ever doubting his love.

"I love you too Ron. I always have and I always will." She whispered more tears spilling freshly down her cheeks before she pressed her lips to his and held him tight, never planning to let go.


End file.
